TOWN Case Histories - From Suit to Salvation
656/660 McAlister Avenue

For many years, a corner bar and adjoining house on a busy south-side Waukegan street had been a trouble-spot, with disturbances and violence that spilled outside into the neighborhood. The physical condition of the bar and adjoining house was deteriorated, with peeling paint, crumbling brick, rotten siding and trim, broken and boarded-up windows, collapsing entryways and holes in the walls allowing interior access to vermin and insects. Coming to the assistance of two residents who lived nearby, TOWN filed suit to require the owner to bring these properties up to code.

When TOWN and the owner were unable to agree on a settlement, TOWN filed a motion for summary judgment to bring the case to a prompt conclusion. Then repairs slowly began, and seven months after the action was filed, an agreed order was entered by the court, giving the owner four additional months to complete the repairs. And when they were completed, a small miracle occurred. A new occupant took over the bar, and a former place of disturbance and violence became a place of peace and harmony-a church aptly named "Remnant of Grace."

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